RESEARCH

CATALYST & BIO-BASED MATERIAL SYNTHESIS

The manufacturing of catalyst and novel material was performed to enhance the reaction rate of a process and to be used as solid sorbent for certain gas. The area is divided into several different programs:

Catalyst Synthesis for Thermochemical Process
Novel Material for biogas purification at Low and High Temperatures

Development of Solid Sorbents for Biogas Purification

The application of the various promising types of solid chemisorbents for biogas purification and other application is still in the fundamental research stage. Therefore, a systematic study targeting their performance enhancement is crucial, since they have the potential to make industrial biogas purification processes economical, mitigate the GHG effects of greenhouse gases, and secure the environment's well-being. Towards this end, various gaps in the literature and fundamental ideas will be addressed, in order to create novel, cost-effective and high-performing solid sorbents with very low environmental impact.

Catalytic HDO Process for Green Diesel Production

The transportation fuels are the leading energy-consuming sector with ~27% share of energy consumption globally. The inedible vegetable oils such and heavy oil are promising feedstock for the transportation fuels due to long hydrocarbon chain with lower oxygen content. Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is one of the most promising route for removal of oxygen from vegetable oil and production of diesel range hydrocarbons known as green diesel. The green diesel has high energy density with high cetane number and is suitable for direct use in existing combustion engines. The HDO of vegetable oil or/and heavy oil can be envisaged through two different routes: (i) direct HDO and (ii) two-step HDO (hydrolysis of vegetable oil followed by HDO of fatty acid).

Development of Oxygen Carriers for Chemical-Looping Combustion

The performance of a chemical-looping process (combustion, reforming, gasification) heavily depends on the efficiency of the material that will be used as an oxygen carrier. In order to develop a highly efficient, cost-effective oxygen carrier, preliminary screening of materials and production conditions is needed. It is critical to find a range of material combinations that are suitable for the chemical-looping process in at certain temperature and pressure conditions. Different oxygen carriers' efficiencies and physicochemical behaviors must be evaluated and compared. Moreover, the effects of operating conditions, such as air-to-carrier ratio, oxygen-carrier-to-fuel ratio, fuel gas velocity and reactor temperature, on fuel conversion is also of significant importance.

THERMOCHEMICAL CONVERSION

Thermochemical conversion research divided into several different programs

Char Production Using Torrefaction
Bio-oil Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass
Catalytic Pyrolysis and Bio-oil Upgrading
Coal and Biomass Gasification

Char Production Using Torrefaction

Torrefaction is a mild thermochemical process carried out in a temperature range of 200⁰C to 300⁰C in nitrogen atmosphere. During torrefaction the lignocellulose structures of biomass undergoes mainly in hemicellulose. Also, during torrefaction the OH groups in the biomass are destroyed and thus makes the biomass hydrophobic in nature and O/C ratio is reduced thereby increasing in carbon content and the resulting product resemble to that of a coal. The high fuel quality of torrefied biomass makes it very attractive for combustion and gasification applications. The torrefied biomass also finds it application as high quality smokeless fuel for industrial, commercial and domestic application, as a solid fuel for cofiring directly with pulverized coal at electric power plant and as an upgraded feedstock for fuel pellets, briquettes and other densified biomass fuels.

Among the thermochemical processes, pyrolysis is a promising tool for providing bio-oil that can be used as fuel or chemical feedstock. The pyrolysis of biomass is a very old energy technology that is again becoming attractive among various systems for the use of biomass as a source of energy. Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process carried out in the temperature range of 300 ⁰C to 600 ⁰C in inert atmosphere. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is one of the most frequently used techniques to study the primary reactions of the decomposition of solids. In the case of biomass, thermogravimetric techniques have been used for the identification of different fractions of polymer present in the material. The kinetic study of biomass pyrolysis is of relevant importance because it constitutes the initial step of the combustion and gasification processes. Knowledge of the kinetics for the thermal decomposition of lignocellulosic materials is needed for the design of gasifier and pyrolysis reactors.

Bio-oil Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignocellulosic biomass can be converted to bio-oil using pyrolysis and then followed by catalytic upgrading of the bio-oil. Pyrolysis can be categorized into conventional pyrolysis (slow pyrolysis) and fast pyrolysis depending on the operating condition. In slow pyrolysis, biomass is heated to temperature up to 500 ^oC with heating rate less than 100 degree/minute and vapour residence time of 5-30 min, resulting mainly in char production. In fast pyrolysis, biomass is heated to temperature up to 500 ^oC, but with faster heating rate (1000 degree/minute and up) and vapour residence times less than 2 second. The second type of the pyrolysis naturally favours the bio-oil as the main product unlike the first type favours the solid product (bio-char).

There are several general chemical changes occurred during pyrolysis. Primary pyrolysis reaction releases volatiles and at the same time forms char. On the next step, condensation process can occurred in the cooler parts of the system to form bio-oil. This process naturally followed by secondary reactions that produce tar. Reforming, dehydration and polymerization can also occurred depend on the reaction time and the heating rate. In the end, the volatile pyrolysis product can have more than 120 components from unspecified low molecular product contained phenolic OH-groups to cyclic and bicyclic products.

Current and ongoing research in pyrolysis has been aimed to increase the yield of the bio-oil and at the same time to increase the quality of the oil by perform the upgrading process afterward. In this study, I propose a step for pre-treatment of the sample prior to the pyrolysis process in order to obtain a better quantity and quality of the bio-oil.

Determining heating value of MSW and their suitability for producing value-added products

The goal of the program of "waste to value-added" initiative is to showcase the latest technologies that turn the municipal solid waste into value-added products in rural Malaysia. This project aims to gain a better understanding of the properties and variations of the locally available residential and ICI (industrial, commercial and institutional) MSW, especially the effects of water contents on their heating values for determining the threshold point during the pre-drying process for thermal treatment.

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